A/N: It seems that I have trouble keeping a wring schedule going during the summer. You'll have to forgive me for this and I will try to plan writing around summers. I'm just so busy and erratically so.

On the upside, I've already got a good start on the next chapter and I feel I can maintain a more consistent update schedule now that I am back to a fairly regular routine. Thank you all for continuing to read this.

Shippo found that breathing through his mouth worked pretty well to clear his head when Sumi's scent began to overpower his senses. Over the last few hours her smell had become much, much stronger and sweeter—it would be sickeningly so if it didn't have that soft cinnamon undertone to cut it. Also, over the past few hours, the woman had become increasingly annoyed with him. At first he did his best to remain cheerful and hold steady conversation—well as much as he could with how little Sumi knew of Japanese—but it only caused her to pull away from him. Then he tried simply being silent, and that had been less effective. It seemed with the lack of words, his very breath and footfalls perturbed her to no end. She'd huff if he sniffed at the air too obviously, she sighed at his tail swishing behind him. He simply couldn't please her.

And all this time Ueda seemed to be watching from behind the two, smirking and occasionally giggling from his place on the trail. Shippo felt he needed to break Sumi and himself from this cycle, and so had been considering options. But the worst part was the panther's chuckling. It was as if he were watching a funny play or something. Shippo didn't really mind being his entertainment, but it seemed to make the situation worse for Sumi, which in turn made the situation worse for Shippo.

What would Inuyasha do?

Scratch that.

What would Miroku do?

Uh…

Well, Kagome would probably try the same thing he did at first, so that was out.

Sango would simply walk in silence and ignore the huffing—which he couldn't seem to do properly.

Damn it. His choices were to provoke her into a fight that might end in finding a solution, or to grope her bottom. He silently thanked the men who'd raised him for showing him the best ways to deal with women. He rolled his eyes as he thought this.

Well…provoking first.

Attempting to create an Inuyasha-like harshness to his tone, Shippo spoke up. "What's your problem anyway?"

The young woman glanced at him from behind her long red hair. "Hm?"

"You," Shippo tried to expand on the uppity attitude he didn't naturally have. "You and your huffing," he made a hard sighing sound while pulling up his shoulders and dropping them as he released his air. "It's freakin' pointless."

She looked at him as if she hadn't fully caught his words, but understood the fake sigh with the tone of his voice. She stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms. "Shippo, no."

This surprised him a bit. Was she trying to end a fight before he got it started?

"'Shippo, no,'" he repeated with a mocking tone. He sure hoped she wouldn't lash out."What's that? I want to know what I am doing that's so wrong."

He heard Ueda behind them stop and he was probably intrigued as all get out.

The woman before him narrowed her eyes. It caused the tattoos to crinkle around them. "No Shippo."

"I want to know what I've done wrong." He pressed his fist against his chest. He was sure he was failing at sounding tough.

"No Shippo." She widened her stance and dug her toes in the ground. "No more talk."

Was she really going to fight him? He looked to the panther behind them and then back to Sumi. He figured if the fight got bad enough Ueda would put a stop to it. Big guy that he was and all. Alright then. Physical fight it was.

Shippo shrugged and shoved Sumi backwards by the shoulder. "I want to talk."

She stumbled back a step, obviously not having expected anything from such a nice male. Don't let the orange puffy hair kid you lady. I'm a mean one I am. He nearly laughed at himself out loud.

She stood back in her original position. "Good. Talk."

He blinked at this. Just like that? And she was willing to hear him out?

A small smile cracked across his face. "Oh cool. We—"

Suddenly the fox youkai was on the ground with the breath knocked out of him. He blinked as he saw her standing above him. Oh you little—

With a heavy huff he felt her knee land on his sternum. She fought dirty!

He winced at the contact, but now she was within his reach. He threw his hands up around her waist and pushed her off of him, following through with his own weight so that he hovered over her. She gasped as she hit the dirt, losing her breath in turn. Shippo felt himself let out a small "ha-ha" in her face just before she wrinkled her nose and punched him in the side of the neck. Shippo felt himself rock on top of her, nearly falling to the side, but he managed to stay on steady.

He blinked as he looked down at her with a snarl. "That wasn't very nice."

She matched his snarl, then grinned suddenly. Huh? Shippo thought.

That's when her jaw dropped and that mist flew out from her mouth into his face. The familiar sweet candy scent shot straight from his nose into his groin, causing the young male to grow instantly hard on top of the attractive female.

She tried to push him off of her, but even though she was taller than him, she was still malnourished and so remained pinned under his weight. As for his part, Shippo felt extra heavy all over from the drugged breath, and he didn't feel steady enough to do much more than fall on the culprit.

"Ugh!" She groaned under him and again tried to roll the two to the side so that she might slip away. She was unsuccessful as she felt a warm nose nuzzle into her shoulder. This was not the best idea ever, she thought. A slick sensation hit her as Shippo's tongue slipped from his lips to graze across her skin. She jumped at the touch and felt her heat spike. Dumb idea altogether.

Then the panther male was above her looking down. He seemed to be grinning at the two, but she couldn't be sure as he was nearly silhouetted by the noon-day sun.

She grunted as she pushed the fox up from her just a bit. "Help?"

The male above them laughed, but reached for her just the same. He pulled the boy up by the collar and with his other hand, he helped her to her feet. She sputtered backwards away from the fox, while Shippo himself just hung limply from Ueda's grasp as he stared her down. With a heavy jaw and a tongue that felt swollen beyond use, the teen attempted to speak.

"Sumi?"

She stayed back but nodded. It was her fault he was in this state after all. "Yes?"

He turned a little, twisting the fabric of his haori. "I'm hungry?"

She blinked at that and took a moment to assess. "Hungry?"

He nodded and slumped more, nearly laying on the panther youkai behind him. Ueda rolled his eyes and snapped out a claw. He poked Shippo in the bottom, and the young male lurched away from the older. "That works," the older said with a grin.

"Hungry?" The young woman looked to Ueda.

The panther male shrugged and gently set Shippo on the ground, where the boy gained enough sense that he blushed at his obvious aroused scent.

Ueda looked at Shippo and spoke to Sumi. "Well, if he is hungry, the boy should eat."

Sumi took a second before she nodded, seemly understanding what he meant. "I go."

The teen looked up at her then with wide eyes. "Go?"

The female nagual held back a laugh, allowing only a soft smile to form on her lips. "Shippo…I go…fix Shippo hunger."

He nodded, "Yeah…hungry."

"I go." She nodded and walked into the woods.

Shippo let out a heavy breath. It was suddenly easier to breathe now that she was out of sight, though his lower body was tensing as it had before when he'd be affected by her scent. And, as before, it wasn't settling down or going away.

"Would you like some privacy, Shippo?"

He could hear the jolly tone in Ueda's voice, but answered anyway. "Yes, please."

In time, the three came back together. Sumi who had brought down a small deer, Ueda who seemingly did nothing while on his own, and Shippo who managed to walk back to the small clearing beside the path without stiff legs. The fox was surprised to see the young woman dragging in the small buck by the hind legs and he quickly trotted over to help her.

Ueda spoke up as they ate the barely cooked deer meat. "So…hungry again?"

Shippo crossed his legs and simply took a bite from his meal. The panther youkai chuckled to his left.

"You know, I went through a growth spurt when I was about your age." The black-skinned man sat with his arms crossed—he hadn't dug in the way Shippo and Sumi had.

Shippo glanced her way as he watched her gnaw on a bone. He wondered if he'd underfed her before.

Absent-mindedly, the boy spoke. "Oh? Growth spurt?"

The older male shook his head. The boy was distracted by Sumi again—not really surprising.

"How much do you normally eat?" Shippo leaned in to the female sitting on the log beside him.

She quirked an eyebrow in his direction as she sucked on the end of the bone, working the marrow. Shippo was reminded of Inuyasha at that moment and he had to look away from the woman. She was doing that thing where she was smelling sweet again—though she hadn't really ceased it at all. He thought he might becoming immune to it, or at least less sensitive—maybe. Hopefully.

"Much hungry," came the sound from his right.

Shippo turned back as she wiped her lips with her sleeve. She must have meant she generally had a big appetite. Why did the words send a shiver down his spine?

The boy eyed the collar of her white upper clothing. It had parted some in their travels, and Sumi seemed in no hurry to close it back up. The crease that formed at the root of her breasts was visible, and he swallowed as he tried to remember if he had ever seen that before. Well, he supposed he had seen Kagome and Sango nude, but that was when he was small—long before he ever knew what sexual urges were. The two before him were a warm brown that was highly uncommon in Japan.

He found himself leaning forward to—sniff? Nuzzle? Lick? Perhaps all. Pulling himself back, Shippo trailed his eyes back to hers and he realized she had seen his near molestation. Her mouth was stuffed full with venison, and a thick brow remained cocked above her left eye. Oh this is not good.

Shippo tried to revert back into his cute butterball of an eight-year-old form, but found his body refused to allow him to leave this more sexually available age. He stared as the woman pulled and ripped a new piece of meat from the bone she'd been gnawing on without once dropping her gaze from his. The young fox gulped.

They sat like that—her chewing and gnawing on the bone and scraps of meat left—him too shocked at the action he was about to take and that she seemed to know exactly what he'd been about to do. They sat staring for a good five minutes and only came out of it when Ueda cleared his throat with a hoarse cough. Shippo immediately pulled his eyes from her and back to his own food. He plowed through his remaining meat so quickly he nearly caused himself a stomach ache. She remained, seemingly uncaring about the older male in the clearing.

"Shippo, will you be alright to continue now?" The panther youkai stood and dusted off his clothes.

He watched as she tore at another piece of meat, a small amount of juicy blood trailing down the side of her chin. He nodded and felt his neck was moving very choppy.

"Y-yes. I'm ready."